FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 3, 2007
Contact: Linda McCandless, llm3@cornell.edu

Geneva, NY: Dr. Kurt Jordan will be presenting "Seneca Iroquois Plant and Animal Use in the Geneva Area, 1688-1779," at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 16. The talk will be held in the auditorium on the second floor of Jordan Hall, at 630 W. North Street in Geneva, on the campus of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES). Refreshments will be served.

The talk will summarize current evidence on the history of the Seneca's use of plants and animals in the Geneva area, drawing in part on data from archaeological excavations at two of these sites directed by Dr. Jordan.  The Seneca Iroquois people inhabited three sites in the Geneva area during 1688-1779: White Springs, the New Ganechstage Site Complex, and Kanadesaga. It is worth noting that over a century after the Senecas cultivated the land they called Kenadesaga, the site was chosen as the location for the Experiment Station.

Core practices typically associated with the Six Nations were used throughout this period, including extensive agriculture of corn beans and squash, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering.  There was, however, remarkable variety in the way these practices were conducted over time, making plant and animal use at each of these three sites distinct.  In addition to the presentation of archaeological and textual data, the motivations for and consequences of changes in Seneca plant and animal use will be reviewed.

Dr. Kurt A. Jordan is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at Cornell University, and specializes in the archaeology of 17th and 18th century Iroquois. He has conducted several excavations in the Geneva area. His book, The Seneca Restoration, 1715-1754: An Iroquois Local Political Economy, will be published in 2008.

The talk is presented by the Frank E. Lee Library, in conjunction with the 125th Anniversary of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Dr. Jordan will be giving a similar talk the same evening at the Geneva Historical Society, at 7:30 p.m.

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